The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century

by Angela E. Stent

Overview

A gripping account of U.S.-Russian relations since the end of the Soviet Union

The Limits of Partnership offers a riveting narrative on U.S.-Russian relations since the Soviet collapse and on the challenges ahead. It reflects the unique perspective of an insider who is also recognized as a leading expert on this troubled relationship. American presidents have repeatedly attempted to forge a strong and productive partnership only to be held hostage to the deep mistrust born of the Cold War. For the United States, Russia remains a priority because of its nuclear weapons arsenal, its strategic location bordering Europe and Asia, and its ability to support—or thwart—American interests. Why has it been so difficult to move the relationship forward? What are the prospects for doing so in the future? Is the effort doomed to fail again and again?

Angela Stent served as an adviser on Russia under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and maintains close ties with key policymakers in both countries. Here, she argues that the same contentious issues—terrorism, missile defense, Iran, nuclear proliferation, Afghanistan, the former Soviet space, the greater Middle East—have been in every president's inbox, Democrat and Republican alike, since the collapse of the USSR. Stent vividly describes how Clinton and Bush sought inroads with Russia and staked much on their personal ties to Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin—only to leave office with relations at a low point—and how Barack Obama managed to restore ties only to see them undermined by a Putin regime resentful of American dominance and determined to restore Russia's great power status.

The Limits of Partnership calls for a fundamental reassessment of the principles and practices that drive U.S.-Russian relations, and offers a path forward to meet the urgent challenges facing both countries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691152974
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	01/05/2014
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Angela E. Stent is professor of government and foreign service and director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies at Georgetown University. Her books include Russia and Germany Reborn: Unification, the Soviet Collapse, and the New Europe (Princeton).

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

List of Acronyms xvii

Prologue

George H. W. Bush and Russia Reborn 1

Chapter One The Bill and Boris Show 13

Chapter Two Rethinking Euro-Atlantic Security 35

Chapter Three Bush and Putin in the Age of Terror 49

Chapter Four The Iraq War 82

Chapter Five The Color Revolutions 97

Illustrations following page 123

Chapter Six The Munich Speech 135

Chapter Seven From Kosovo to Georgia: Things Fall Apart 159

Chapter Eight Economics and Energy: The Stakeholder Challenge 177

Chapter Nine Reset or Overload? The Obama Initiative 211

Chapter Ten From Berlin to Damascus: Disagreements Old and New 235

Chapter Eleven The Limits of Partnership 255

Acknowledgments 275

List of Interviewees 279

Chronology of Major Events in U.S.-Russian Relations 283

Notes 293

Bibliography 321

Credits for Illustration Section 327

Index 329

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Drawing on her depth of knowledge as a Russia scholar and sharp insights gained as an intelligence analyst, Angela Stent has written a page-turning book about U.S.-Russian relations since the end of the Cold War. A must-read for anyone engaged in the study or practice of this critical bilateral relationship."—John Negroponte, former U.S. deputy secretary of state

"Angela Stent has written a comprehensive, thoughtful, and tremendously useful study of post-Cold War relations between Russia and the United States. She uses interviews with key actors in Russia and the United States and a host of other fresh sources to examine the unpredictable ups and downs of what remains the most important bilateral relationship in international relations in the twenty-first century. This is a must-read for anyone concerned about global affairs now and in the future."—Kathryn Stoner, Stanford University

"Angela Stent has done the seemingly impossible: from the maelstrom of the past two decades she's distilled the essence of modern Russia and its complex relations with the United States. The Obama administration's 'reset,' she says, isn't new; there have been four 'resets' in this relationship, by Democratic and Republican administrations, with mixed results. Using her extraordinary decades-long experience as scholar and government insider, along with her trenchant analysis of what makes Russia's foreign and domestic policy tick, Stent explains what has worked, what has not—and why. The U.S.-Russian relationship will remain a limited partnership, she predicts, until the bonds of Cold War thinking—on both sides—can be broken."—Jill Dougherty, CNN's foreign affairs correspondent

"This is the first book to cover the full sweep and complexity of U.S.-Russian relations since the end of the Cold War. It is likely to remain the best work on the subject for a long time to come. Stent brings to the saga a narrative verve and personal knowledge of many of the main characters, amassed in her distinguished career as a scholar and government official. A triumph and a major contribution."—Strobe Talbott, Brookings Institution

"The Limits of Partnership offers a comprehensive overview of U.S.-Russian relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union. I know of no other book that explains why the post-Soviet bilateral relationship has never lived up to expectations."—Fiona Hill, Brookings Institution

"Stent's argument is richly developed, covering a wide swath of the U.S.-Russian bilateral policy agenda and buttressed by a great deal of historical detail, at least some of which will be new to most readers. The Limits of Partnership is clearly the product of assiduous research, and profits as well from Stent's personal experience in the politics of U.S. policymaking toward Russia."—Robert C. Nurick, Atlantic Council

Editorial Reviews

"Until now, there have been no broad-based studies of the vexed contemporary U.S.-Russian relationship in English—or, for that matter, in Russian. This volume fills that void admirably."

Foreign Affairs

"Stent, former staffer at the National Intelligence Council and Department of State, has written a masterful analysis of US-Russian relations since the breakup of the Soviet Union. . . . Written in a lively, engaging manner that is free of academic jargon, the book is accessible to readers from a variety of disciplines and academic levels. . . . This book provides a complete and definitive rendering of the key events that have taken place in that relationship and deserves to be widely read."

Choice

"[M]agisterial."

The Economist

Winner of the 2014 Douglas Dillon Award, American Academy of Diplomacy

One of Bloomberg Businessweek’s Best Books of 2015, chosen by Daniel Fuss

One of Bloomberg Businessweek’s Best Books of 2014, chosen by Dan Fuss

From the Publisher

2013-12-09
Whatever happened to the end of the Cold War? According to Stent (Government and Foreign Service/Georgetown Univ.; Russia and Germany Reborn: Unification, the Soviet Collapse, and the New Europe, 1998, etc.), since the collapse of the Soviet Union barely 20 years ago, there have been four "resets" in relations. George H.W. Bush was wary but optimistic, Bill Clinton welcoming, George W. Bush ambivalent and Barack Obama--well, just a touch frosty, at least in some measure due to Vladimir Putin's return to power. Why, Stent wonders, "has it been so difficult to develop a productive and more predictable post–Cold War U.S.–Russian partnership"? Her lucid book is an extended answer to that pointed question. Part of the problem is Russia's unwillingness to become a second-tier power, and, as Stent notes, the nation's GDP has in fact grown sevenfold since 2000, largely due to oil and gas exports. Couple that with the fact that Russia has few material needs for which it requires America's participation to meet, and it becomes more difficult to exert any sort of economic control. Meanwhile, many Russians have regarded the period following the Soviet collapse not as a harbinger of peace and prosperity but as a shameful tumble into irrelevancy and disorder, something to be avoided in the future. George W. Bush's fateful assertion that he could look inside Putin's soul aside, what is clear from Stent's book is that it is in the self-interest of the U.S. to develop friendlier ties with Russia, even as tensions continue to pull the nations apart--most recently, the kerfuffle over Edward Snowden, who has found safe harbor of a kind in Moscow thanks to "the lack of an extradition treaty," something a security-conscious administration might want to remedy. Academic but readable and sometimes surprising, as when Stent reminds readers that Putin offered important information just before 9/11 that went ignored.

Kirkus Reviews